No. 192, 09 October 1991

USSR--ALL-UNION TOPICS AND RSFSR



DISARRAY IN RSFSR LEADERSHIP CONTINUES. RSFSR Deputy Prime Minister
Igor Gavrilov has sent a letter of resignation to RSFSR President
Boris Yeltsin, TASS reported on October 8. Gavrilov criticized
the new RSFSR leaders of continuing to fight a now weakened center,
neglecting Russia's economic problems, alienating other republics,
and fighting among themselves. RSFSR Vice President Aleksandr
Rutskoi echoed Gavrilov's criticism and warned of anarchy. He
rejected the Alma-Ata agreement on economic union because it
will make Russia a "milking cow" of the republics. Rutskoi told
Radio Rossii the same day that instead of a broad economic union
he favors a political union with few republics. Rutskoi expressed
a firm wish to become Russia's new Prime Minister. (Alexander
Rahr)

BURBULIS ON RUSSIA TAKING OVER FROM USSR. RSFSR State Secretary
Gennadii Burbulis told Interfax October 8, after returning from
talks with Yeltsin in Sochi, that Yeltsin reacted "normally"
to the proposal to declare Russia the leagl successor of the
Soviet Union. Burbulis said that this move would formally abolish
the center and break all ties with the republics. USSR President
Mikhail Gorbachev, Burbulis added, reacted with "extreme anxiety"
to that proposal. Burbulis also indicated that Yeltsin will veto
the law on elections of heads of local administrations in Russia,
adopted by the RSFSR parliament, because he does not want conservative
forces to return to the periphery. (Alexander Rahr)

STATE COUNCIL TO MEET OCTOBER 11. Gorbachev's press spokesman,
Andrei Grachev, told correspondents October 8 that the State
Council would meet October 11 to discuss the conclusion of a
Union treaty and the creation of an economic community in the
Soviet Union, TASS reported October 8. Grachev said that the
prospects for a food agreement between the republics and and
the reorganization of the all-Union KGB would also be discussed.
Yeltsin is expected to return to Moscow October 10 to attend
the meeting. (Ann Sheehy)

UPCOMING SESSION OF REVAMPED USSR SUPREME SOVIET.
On October 8 the interrepublican committee preparing
for the first session of the revamped USSR Supreme Soviet, due
to convene October 21, approved the draft provisional rules for
the Council of the Republics and approved in the main those for
the Council of the Union, TASS reported October 8. The committee
also discussed the rules for joint sessions of the two houses.
It decided to meet daily from now on. (Ann Sheehy)

THE RSFSR AND THE USSR SUPREME SOVIET. The RSFSR Supreme Soviet
adopted a resolution on October 8 stipulating that deputies representing
the RSFSR in the USSR Supreme Soviet must be guided by the constitution
and laws of the RSFSR, TASS reported the same day. The resolution
sets out the basis on which the RSFSR delegation will decide
how to vote in the Council of the Republics where each republic
has only one vote. The resolution also stipulates that decisions
of the USSR Supreme Soviet not supported by the RSFSR delegation
must be examined immediately by the RSFSR Supreme Soviet or its
presidium. (Ann Sheehy)

REPUBLICS SUPPORT DISARMAMENT PROPOSAL. The RSFSR, Ukraine, Kazakhstan,
and Belorussia--the four republics where the bulk of the USSR's
nuclear weapons are deployed-- were consulted on Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev's latest disarmament proposal before it was
announced, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported
October 9. Gorbachev's spokesman Andrei Grachev said at a press
conference October 8 that the proposal reflects those republics'
thinking and has their support. Grachev and other Soviet officials
at the press conference sought to dispel concerns in the West
that Gorbachev's authority to negotiate arms reductions is eroding.
(Sallie Wise Chaballier)

PANKIN ON EVOLUTION OF FOREIGN MINISTRY. Foreign Minister Boris
Pankin said in an interview with Pravda of October 8 that he
does not expect any "dramatic changes" in connection with the
devolution of many of his Ministry's functions to the republics,
although a "natural" distribution of authority and responsibilities
is taking place. He noted that the first meeting of the Council
of Foreign Ministers, which he chaired, went well, adding that
the republican Foreign Ministers were pleased that the meeting
was not merely cosmetic. Pankin stressed that the all-Union MFA
was serious about delegating some of its authority to the republics,
a move which, in his view, is entirely logical. TASS summarized
the interview in a dispatch the same day. (Sallie Wise Chaballier)


JAPANESE AID PACKAGE ANNOUNCED. On October 8, Japanese government
spokesmen disclosed details of an aid package for the USSR valued
at $2.5 billion, Western agencies reported that day. The package
is said to consist of $1.8billion in trade insurance, $500 million
in credits for the purchase and transportation of foodstuffs
and medicines, and $200 million in export-import bank credits.
An unidentified Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman emphasized
that the aid package had nothing to do with the Soviet-Japanese
territorial dispute, and he denied that the size and timing of
the package was in any way influenced by pressure from Japn's
Western allies. The aid is "intended to support democracy and
economic change in the USSR," he explained. (Keith Bush)

SAUDI HUMANITARIAN AID PACKAGE. The Saudi Arabian ambassador
to Washington told The New York Times of October 9 that his country
has agreed to send $1 billion in emergency humanitarian aid to
the Soviet Union this fall. This is in addition to the $1.5 billion
in credits and aid pledged this summer. The ambassador stressed
the urgent need in the USSR for food, clothing, and medicine
from the US, Europe, and Japan during the next three months "if
we are to avoid another shock to the system." (Keith Bush)

GERASHCHENKO ON LIQUIDITY AND RE-SCHEDULING. Before leaving Moscow
for the IMF annual meeting in Bangkok, USSR Gosbank Chairman
Viktor Gerashchenko told a Western agency on October 8 that the
USSR's foreign exchange reserves were nearly exhausted. He acknowledged
that it would take time for the USSR to obtain full membership
of the IMF and thus qualify for credits from that institution,
but he denied that his country would seek easier repayment terms
for its foreign debt (estimated, when commercial arrears are
included, at $68 billion). Gerashchenko called for foreign assistance
to make the ruble convertible. He criticized Western investors
for their reluctance to commit funds to projects in the USSR
and Western bankers for holding back credit lines during the
recent upheavals. (Keith Bush)

CPSU SAID TO GO UNDERGROUND. According to Komsomol'skaya pravda
of October 1, elite CPSU and KGB officials have formed a "Party
of Proletarian Dictatorship"--an underground network aimed at
establishing communist control over the currently anti-Communist
labor movement. Komsomol'skaya pravda said that the Party elite
started to work out this illegal network as early as in 1987,
when the first signs of the future banning of the CPSU became
evident. The underground, the newspaper claimed, is very well
organized and has an excellent financial basis, secret meeting
places, safe houses, and other trappings of urban guerilladom.
However, the communist moles reportedly do not plan to engage
in any terrorist activities. (Julia Wishnevsky)

ANOTHER CPSU TREASURER FALLS OUT A WINDOW. Georgii Pavlov, the
81-year-old former Administrator of the CPSU Central Committee's
Affairs, committed suicide October 6 by jumping from a window
of his 7th floor appartment, Soviet radio and TV newscasts reported
October 8. The post that Pavlov held from 1965 to 1983 is believed
to make its holder the only person who knows the whole truth
about Party finances. Pavlov's successor in this post, Nikolai
Kruchina, also reportedly threw himself from a window a few days
after the decision was made to expropriate CPSU property. Arkadii
Vaksberg, widely reputed to be the best Soviet legal columnist,
wrote in Literaturnaya gazeta No. 35 that the events following
Kruchina's death, such as the lack of an inquest, were suspicious.
According to Vaksberg, the possiblity could not be ruled out
that somebody "wanted to eliminate those who knew too much."
(Julia Wishnevsky)

DID KGB DESTROY EVIDENCE OF COUP? The state commission investigating
KGB activities has discovered data about preparations for detaining
leaders of the democratic movement, the new Chief of the KGB
Analytical Department, Vladimir Rubanov, told Komsomol'skaya
pravda, October 1. But, he added, many documents containing evidence
against the plotters were destroyed at the time Dzerzhinsky's
monument was destroyed. The main evidence, the list of potential
detainees, was not found, while that published by Nezavisimaya
gazeta was recognized as fake (see Daily Report, September 3). Former KGB
Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov's lawyer, Yurii Ivanov, told the conservative
weekly Den', No. 19 that he does not exclude the possibility that
investigation will find witnesses to the list's existence. Indeed, Argumenty
i fakty, No. 38 has published the list reconstituted from memory
by the KGB officers involved. (Victor Yasmann)

KGB SELLS DOCUMENTS ABROAD. At a time when researchers are starting
to study dossiers from the Party and KGB organizations, the KGB
itself has begun to sell abroad secret documents from the Stalin
era, TSN reported October 8. The first cache included seven reports
about Soviet intelligence activity in England in 1941. TSN commented
that the price charged by the KGB is too high by Western standards,
while the coded documents are difficult for research. The campaign
to sell the KGB treasure trove began last year, when the agency
and the Union of Soviet Writers created a joint commission headed
by poet Vitalii Shetalinsky. The commission dealt with confiscated
literary works of repressed writers and transcripts of interrogations
of Isaak Babel, Anna Akhmatova, and Mikhail Bulgakov; it was
sponsored by British Signals International Trust in Oxford. (Victor
Yasmann)

TRANSFORMATION OF RSFSR DOSAAF. The RSFSR Voluntary Society for
Cooperation with the Army, Navy and Fleet (DOSAAF) has been tranformed
into the RSFSR Defense Sport-Technical Organization (OSTO), Pravda
reported October 1. According to the statute adopted at its inaugural
congress in Pensa, the aim of the society will be preparation
for "working life and service in the Armed Forces," which does
not differ markedly from that of DOSAAF. (Victor Yasmann)

SOLZHENITSYN WELCOMES DISINTEGRATION OF USSR. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
has published a personal statement on the future of the Soviet
Union in the newspaper Trud of October 8--the first since the
appearance of his brochure "How to Restructure Russia" a year
ago. He welcomed the achievement of sovereignty by the former
Soviet republics, and said he does not believe that a confederation
of sovereign states could function. Solzhenitsyn stressed that
the future of the Union will be decided by the December 1 referendum
in Ukraine. He emphasized the importance of ensuring that the
will of the people of Ukraine finds true expression during that
referendum. (Alexander Rahr)

CONFLICT CONCERNING HASSIDIC MANUSCRIPTS GAINS MOMENTUM. TASS
reported on October 8 that the management of the Lenin Library
in Moscow, where Hassidic books and manuscripts are being kept
(see Daily Report, October 8), sent a protest to the Committee
for Culture of the USSR Supreme Soviet. The protest was directed
against the Hassidic community's demand that the unique books
and manuscripts be returned to the community. The Committee has
answered that a return of these cultural treasures would be "illegal
and impermissible." The Hassidic community has filed suit against
the museum, but the suit has not yet come to trial. (Oxana Antic)


COSSACK VOLUNTEER UNITS TO MAINTAIN ORDER IN ROSTOV OBLAST. The
executive committee of the Rostov oblast soviet has decided to
create volunteer Cossack units (druzhiny) to maintain public
order in the Don villages and cities, TASS reported October 8.
The Cossacks will help to patrol the streets, maintain order
on public transport and at mass events, assist in the fight against
hooliganism, drunkenness, moonshine, and drug addiction, and
assist the procuracy, the courts, and the tax inspectors. The
Cossacks have been agitating for some time to be given an official
role in law and order activities. (Ann Sheehy)

RSFSR SUPSOV PRESIDIUM RESOLUTION ON CHECHENO-INGUSHETIA. On
October 8 the Presidium of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet adopted a
resolution on the situation in Checheno-Ingushetia after hearing
a report from Vice-President Aleksandr Rutskoi on his visit to
the republic, TASS reported October 8. The resolution condemns
the activities of unofficial armed formations and the Executive
Committee of the Congress of the Chechen People for appropriating
the powers of the organs of authority, states that the only organ
of legal state power in the republic until new elections to the
Supreme Soviet is the Supreme State Council formed by the previous
Supreme Soviet, and orders the armed formations to hand over
their weapons by midnight on October 10. (Ann Sheehy)

INGUSH DECIDE NOT TO PRESS FOR SEPARATE REPUBLIC AT PRESENT.
The recent congress of the Ingush people in Groznyi decided not
to demand the division of Checheno-Ingushetia into two republics
at least for the present, Vesti reported October 8. The majority
voted in favor of waiting until the Ingush got back the Prigorodnyi
raion given to North Ossetia when the Ingush were deported in
1944. (Ann Sheehy)


USSR--OTHER REPUBLICS


GEORGIAN ROUNDUP. Several hundred anti-government protesters
demonstrated October 8 outside the Georgian parliament, and sixty
Communist deputies were banned from parliament on the grounds
that the CP is "illegal" in Georgia, Western news agencies reported
October 8. Former Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze
told Nezavisimaya gazeta that he was willing to mediate between
Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia and the opposition, but
that he doubted that his services would be welcomed. Tengiz Kitovani,
head of the rebel faction of the Georgian National Guard, was
quoted by Interfax October 8 as stating that he will drop his
demand for Gamsakhurdia's resignation if the opposition's other
demands are met. (Liz Fuller)

SOBCHAK ON TAJIKISTAN. St Petersburg mayor Anatolii Sobchak,
sent by Gorbachev to seek an end to the confrontation between
conservatives and the opposition in Tajikistan, told a press
conference in Moscow that an agreement signed by the disputants
is a small step, not a major victory, according to a TASS report
of October 8. Future developments in the republic depend on how
the agreement, which ended the weeks of demonstrations and an
opposition hunger strike, is observed, said Sobchak, who added
that he sees a "third way" for Tajikistan between Communist dictatorship
and Muslim fundamentalism. This third way would combine democratic
Islam and existing nomenklatura power structures. According to
the TASS report, Sobchak doubted that Western-style democracy
could succeed in Tajikistan. (Bess Brown)

KAZAKH COSMONAUT STUDYING ARAL. Kazakh cosmonaut Tokhtar Aubakirov,
who was hastily added to the team sent to the Mir space station
last week, is conducting a number of biological experiments and
observing dust and particulate diffusion from the Aral seabed,
the head of Kazakhstan's Academy of Sciences told a TASS correspondent
on October 8. The inclusion of Aubakirov, who has been shown
on Austrian TV assisting the Austrian member of the team in performing
medical studies, seems to have been a gesture to Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbaev, who has long complained that Kazakhstan
gained nothing from the Soviet space program. (Bess Brown)

UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES LIBERAL CITIZENSHIP LAW. After a
two-week break, the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet on October 8 resumed
its work and passed, on its second reading, what appears to be
a liberal law on citizenship. According to a report from Kiev
from the Ukrainian Information Agency Ukrinform and TASS October
8, the Ukrainian citizenship law had generated considerable controversy
and a compromise had to be worked out which permits dual citizenship
on the basis of bilateral agreements with other states. (Bohdan
Nahaylo)

UKRAINE SET ON RADICAL ECONOMIC REFORMS. Privatization of businesses
and land ownership, as well as the creation of a Ukrainian stock
exchange, are on the agenda of the session of the Ukrainian Supreme
Soviet which opened October 8. Elaborating on this, the Chairman
of the Ukrainian Parliament's Commission on Economic Reform,
Volodymyr Pylypchuk, told Western agencies October 8 that Ukraine
plans to introduce its own currency by the middle of next year
and to embark on a course of radical economic reform. He said
that Ukraine would guard its economic independence and would
refuse "to allow any central monopoly on foreign economic activity,
a single central bank or any control by the center over foreign
credits." Pylypchuk added, though, that because of the poor harvest
and the fragility of Ukraine's economy, strict "anti-market"
measures--including tight limits on exports and a coupon system--would
have to remain in force until next spring. (Bohdan Nahaylo)

ROMANIANS IN NORTHERN BUKOVINA AIR DEMANDS. Reporting from northern
Bukovina's capital Chernovtsy, a special correspondent for Newsday
wrote in the paper's October 3 issue that Romanians there have
recently organized a series of rallies and pickets in front of
the oblast soviet building. Their demands include recognition
of the Romanian language as official language in the oblast along
with Ukrainian; official recognition of the Romanian tricolor
flag in the oblast; the return of buildings confiscated by the
authorities from Romanian cultural societies following the Soviet
annexation; and more church services in Romanian. The rallies
have been organized by the Eminescu Society for Romanian Culture
and an affiliated Romanian church society. Thus far the oblast
soviet has not granted the demands. (Vladimir Socor)

GAGAUZ LEADERS OFFER TO HOST SOVIET TROOPS FROM POLAND. Reporting
from the Gagauz administrative center of Comrat in southern Moldavia,
a special correspondent for L'Express cited Gagauz leaders as
wishing for "a contingent of the Soviet army to come and establish
itself on that territory." Gagauz leaders hope that a Soviet
unit withdrawing from Poland could be transferred to the would-be
Gagauz republic, the correspondent reported in the French weekly's
October 4 issue. (Vladimir Socor)


BALTIC STATES


MVD TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM LATVIA, LITHUANIA. Quoting Latvia's
Minister of Internal Affairs Aloizs Vaznis, the Baltic News Agency
reported on October 8 that Soviet MVD troops were starting to
withdraw from Latvia. All of these troops are expected to depart
by the end of the year. Western news agencies reported on October
9 that Lithuania and the USSR have agreed that the MVD forces
would start to leave that country in March 1992. About 10,000
MVD troops are stationed in the Lithuanian cities of Vilnius,
Kaunas, Siaulai, and Snieckus. Lithuanians want them to complete
the withdrawal in two years, but Soviet authorities estimate
that five years are needed. (Dzintra Bungs)

LANDSBERGIS RENEWS CALL FOR TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM BALTICS. While
visiting England, Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis issued
a new call for a swift withdrawal of the USSR's troops from his
country, according to Western agency reports of October 8. He
said that there was a danger of a new coup in Moscow and that
it was imperative completely to remove the Soviet Army from Lithuania
before that happened. He said that British Prime Minister John
Major supports Lithuanians' desire for a quick withdrawal of
Soviet soldiers from their territory and would press the Soviet
Union on the issue. (Dzintra Bungs)

LATVIAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES CITIZENSHIP. On October 8 the Latvian
Supreme Council started to discuss legislations concerning citizenship
of the Republic of Latvia. The discussions were heated and will
continue today. Two sets of proposals--one prepared by a working
group headed by Juris Bojars and the other by Janis Lagzdins--were
considered. Many Latvians feel that the Supreme Council does
not have the legal authority to deal with these issues since
the deputies were elected to the Supreme Soviet, a precursor
to the Supreme Council when Latvia was still a part of the USSR.
Many non-Latvians are concerned about how such legislations will
affect their lives in the restored Republic of Latvia. (Dzintra
Bungs)

LATVIAN, LITHUANIAN DIPLOMATS PRESENT CREDENTIALS AT UN. According
to an RFE/RL correspondent's report of October 8 from New York,
Anatol Dinbergs and Anicetas Simutis presented their credentials
as ambassadors to the United Nations to UN Secretary General
Javier Perez de Cuellar earlier that day. Dinbergs had served
as Latvia's chargé d'affaires in Washington since the 1970s and
started his diplomatic career in 1932. Simutis was Lithuania's
Consul General in New York for the past 24 years and began his
diplomatic career in 1931. (Dzintra Bungs)

LATVIAN-JAPANESE DIPLOMATIC RELA-TIONS REESTABLISHED. On October
8 Latvia and Japan exchanged official notes to reestablish diplomatic
relations. This was done during the the visit of Japanese Deputy
Foreign Minister Muneo Suzuki to Riga. Radio Riga reported on
October 8 that until Japan can send a permanent envoy to Riga,
the Japanese ambassador to the USSR will also represent his country
in Latvia. (Dzintra Bungs)

LITHUANIA JOINS ILO. Western agencies reported on October 8 that
Lithuania that day became the 150th member of the International
Labor Organization. (Dzintra Bungs)